Duane M Wulf
- Associate Professor, Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
- Animal and Comparative Bio Sci, Rm. 201
- Tucson, AZ 85721
- dmwulf@email.arizona.edu
Biography
Duane Wulf, born in Morris, MN, received his B.S. and M.S. from South Dakota State University and his Ph.D. from Colorado State University, all in Animal Science. Dr. Wulf held faculty positions at The Ohio State University (3 yrs) and SDSU (11 yrs), where he attained the rank of Full Professor. His university research focused on ante- and post-mortem factors affecting beef and pork quality, attracted numerous graduate students, and resulted in 43 refereed journal articles. Dr. Wulf was honored several times for his teaching excellence, highlighted by the Distinguished Teaching Award from the American Meat Science Association. For the past ten years, Dr. Wulf has served as a missionary businessman in Sonora, Mexico where he started a meat processing plant, a cattle ranch, and a restaurant, all with the purpose of providing training and career opportunities to the fatherless and underprivileged. In addition to these positions, Dr. Wulf has worked across all production and processing phases of the meat industry and has been hired as a consultant both domestically and internationally by both small and large companies. Dr. Wulf’s position at U of Arizona will be 40/40/20 Research/Teaching/Service. His research will focus on improving meat quality and safety and his teaching responsibilities will include ACBS 210 and ACBS 420. Dr. Wulf is fascinated with the Sonoran Desert ecosystem and has grown very fond of the culture and environment living in this unique section of earth for the past 10 years. He is excited to be back in academia and part of the land-grant mission at the University of Arizona.
Degrees
- Ph.D. Animal Science/Meat Science
- Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
- Genetic influences on beef longissimus palatability in Charolais- and Limousin-sired steers and heifers.
- M.S. Animal Science/Meat Science Minor: Statistics
- South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota, United States
- Composition and current merchandising practices of the beef wholesale rib.
- B.S. Animal Science - Business Option
- South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota, United States
Work Experience
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (2020 - Ongoing)
- The Fatted Calf, 501(c)3 (2009 - 2020)
- South Dakota State University (1999 - 2009)
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (1996 - 1998)
- Continental Sausage Company (1996)
- Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado (1993 - 1996)
- South Dakota State University (1990 - 1992)
- South Dakota State University (1989 - 1990)
- IBP, Inc. (1989)
- South Dakota State University (1988 - 1989)
- SDSU Meats Laboratory (1988 - 1989)
- South Dakota State University (1988)
- John Morrell and Company (1987)
- Leonard Wulf and Sons, Inc. (1976 - 1987)
Licensure & Certification
- HACCP Certified, International HACCP Alliance (1998)
Interests
Research
Research is perhaps the most exciting segment of the academic world since the researcher is extending the boundaries of human knowledge. The broad definition of my research interests would be Meat Production and Meat Quality. The current meat marketing system in the USA encourages the production of overly-fat animals because higher fat content is related to improved meat palatability. Animals that have an excess of fat deposition are less efficient, requiring a higher amount of natural resources and having greater environmental impact than animals with an optimal level of fat deposition. In addition, meat products with higher levels of saturated fat are related to increased risk of cardiovascular disease among humans. Therefore, I am interested in improving meat quality using methods that don’t require excess fat production. Methods to improve meat quality have the potential to change market signals within the meat industry, resulting in lowered environmental impact and improved human health worldwide.Specifically, my research interests include:• Sustainability of meat production systems.• Early-postmortem glycolysis and pH decline effects on meat quality.• Methods of improving meat quality (antemortem and postmortem).• Increasing the utilization of low-value meat products.• Cultural differences in meat consumption, meat processing, and carcass utilization.I consider myself an applied researcher; however, I am very keen to the possibility of collaborating with basic scientists as I have in the past. If scientists are willing to learn from each other and work together, it provides the opportunity to make significant impact through a systems approach to solving the world’s problems.I also need to keep in mind that the citizens of Arizona are providing me with a research grant every year by paying of portion of my salary and expenses. I will make sure that the results of my research with provide a direct or indirect benefit to these tax payers.
Teaching
I believe that teaching is one of the most rewarding things a person can do during their lifetime. Zig Ziglar said, "You can get everything out of life that you want, if you just help enough other people get what they want", and I am convinced that this is true. During my teaching experiences, I have witnessed students who were transformed from a "nobody" into a "somebody". The teacher's primary responsibilities are to instill interest in the subject matter and confidence in the student. If the teacher is effective, the students will teach themselves. I believe that in order to stimulate students' curiosity, you must not only teach the "who, what, when, where and how", but also the "why", which I feel is much more interesting. A teacher must also be open-minded to the vast differences among students with regard to their backgrounds, interests, aspirations and, most importantly, learning styles. Important concepts that I keep in mind when designing a course:• Effective learning is more about what the student does and less about what the teacher does.• Students will only retain 10 to 50 percent of the subject matter presented in a course, so it better be the most important 10 to 50 percent.• Much of the information may be out-dated in the near future; hence, a teacher must teach the students that learning is a life-long process and must instruct them on how to learn.• Cultures across the globe have different manners of production, business, cooking, etc., but the anatomy, biology and chemistry remains the same. Therefore, I should focus more on teaching the basic foundations. I.e., I should teach basic muscle and skeletal anatomy more that making students memorize meat cut names.• Today’s students have the entire world's knowledge at their fingertips, but we need to teach them how to understand it, decipher it, and apply it.
Courses
2020-21 Courses
-
Jr Livestck Judging Team
ACBS 396A (Spring 2021) -
Meat Animal Composition
ACBS 420 (Spring 2021) -
Meat Animal Composition
ACBS 520 (Spring 2021) -
Research
ACBS 900 (Spring 2021) -
Independent Study
ACBS 599 (Fall 2020) -
Intr Comptv Lvestck Judg
ACBS 297B (Fall 2020) -
Intr Live Anml+Carc Eval
ACBS 210 (Fall 2020)
Scholarly Contributions
Others
- Wulf, D. M., Garcia, S. R., & Diaz, D. (2020, May). How to Butcher a Pig (On Farm Pig Harvest Procedures). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojctijm2TgoMore infoDue to COVID shut downs at several pork processing plants, there was much demand for science-based procedures for on-farm pig harvest. This video was produced and published with the support of the National Pork Board.
